TY - JOUR
T1 - Nazis in Skokie
T2 - Tolerance, democracy, and the deliberative sense of the community
AU - Federman, Cary
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 National Communication Association.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Empirical studies of tolerance have drawn three conclusions about tolerance, speech, and democracy: (1) that tolerance is one of the most important attributes of democracy; (2) that all groups should be tolerated, but not all activities; and (3) that elites are more willing than non-elites to tolerate extremist speech. In 1977, Skokie, Illinois revealed the conflict these conclusions elide when the citizens of Skokie reversed a decision by Skokie’s elected officials and banned a group of Nazis from demonstrating. In the words of one study, this created “an antidemocratic consensus of unambiguous scope and content.” In this article, I argue that Skokie demonstrates a willingness by a people to preserve their way of life by limiting the liberty of a group dedicated to tyranny, and to regain some of their autonomy by deliberating about how to live as a free people. Another word for this is democracy, and my understanding of this term contrasts sharply with empiricists’ understanding of it. Understanding speech by way of democracy and tolerance is rarely analyzed, but it provides for greater insight into the meaning of speech because it takes seriously the beliefs of those most affected by extremist speech.
AB - Empirical studies of tolerance have drawn three conclusions about tolerance, speech, and democracy: (1) that tolerance is one of the most important attributes of democracy; (2) that all groups should be tolerated, but not all activities; and (3) that elites are more willing than non-elites to tolerate extremist speech. In 1977, Skokie, Illinois revealed the conflict these conclusions elide when the citizens of Skokie reversed a decision by Skokie’s elected officials and banned a group of Nazis from demonstrating. In the words of one study, this created “an antidemocratic consensus of unambiguous scope and content.” In this article, I argue that Skokie demonstrates a willingness by a people to preserve their way of life by limiting the liberty of a group dedicated to tyranny, and to regain some of their autonomy by deliberating about how to live as a free people. Another word for this is democracy, and my understanding of this term contrasts sharply with empiricists’ understanding of it. Understanding speech by way of democracy and tolerance is rarely analyzed, but it provides for greater insight into the meaning of speech because it takes seriously the beliefs of those most affected by extremist speech.
KW - Deliberative democracy
KW - Nazis
KW - Skokie
KW - Tolerance
KW - democracy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159080709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/27671127.2023.2206463
DO - 10.1080/27671127.2023.2206463
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85159080709
SN - 2767-1127
VL - 57
SP - 52
EP - 70
JO - Communication and Democracy
JF - Communication and Democracy
IS - 1
ER -